What are loyalty card points worth?

If you’re like me, you’ll have a few loyalty cards in your wallet and swipe away when you get to the till. But do you have any idea what the points are worth? Do you even use them? Is there any point to the points?

Well, taking the last question first, yes, I’d say it’s almost always a good idea to collect points if you can. Even if it’s a tiny amount, it will add up and it’s money for nothing. But it’s less likely to be worth going to a particular shop just to get the points if it’s not the cheapest or most convenient option.

As for do I use them? I’m a big fan of Clubcard points as you can boost their value, so I get through them quickly. My Nectar on the other hand slowly but surely adds the odd penny while I wait for a decent deal to increase their value, but they’re pretty rare.

I know what my Tesco points are worth as they’re much easier to calculate. But what are 2,000 Nectar points worth? Or 800 Boots? No idea! Plus there are schemes at Morrisons, Superdrug and Marks & Spencer – and they’re all different.

To help me – and you – I’ve taken a look at the biggest schemes to see what you get for your points.

What I really like about this scheme is the number of ways you can double, triple or quadruple the points to max the value. Read my 6 Best Uses Of Clubcard Points article for more on how to make the most of these points.

You’ll also be sent a booklet of vouchers every other month or so to spend in store. Sometimes it’s money off specific products, but you’ll also often see £4 off a £40 shop, which is a great extra saving – if you have a Tesco near you!

Nectar halved how many points you earn at Sainsbury’s in 2015, but each point (old and new) is still worth the same.

You can also earn Nectar points at places like Argos and websites like Expedia. In fact, shop online and there are dozens of high street options such as House of Fraser and Top Shop.

Though you now earn less when you shop, Nectar has the odd decent boost deals, the best so far was two Vue Cinema tickets or two Pizza Express mains for £5 in the summer. I’ll post about any new offers in my vouchers and deals section. However, on the whole I’m not a huge fan of the scheme – especially the Double Up promotions which, as I found, can be a nightmare to take advantage of.

How much are Marks & Spencers Sparks card points worth?

This a is a different approach to points from M&S. You can earn points not just when you shop, but also when you write reviews or “Shwop” (where you get a £5 voucher for handing over old clothes).

However, you don’t get any money back from your points. Instead, the more points you earn, the more previews and events you have access to. For example, 5,000 points gets you access to sales and promotions before everyone else. If you are a really big spender you’ll be able to attend food masterclasses and catwalks for 14,000 points.

These don’t really appeal to me, but since there are some additional discounts available (eg extra money off a Dine in for £10 deal) if you shop at M&S I think it’s worth signing up. You can pick up a card in store and register it online.

How much are Boots Advantage points worth?

So you need to spend £1 to use any points – however you can part pay with points, meaning it’s likely you won’t cash out until you’ve earned at least 100 points, which is a spend of £25

This is one of the schemes I’ve never joined, but Becky is a big fan and racks up the points quite quickly. You can only spend them in Boots shops or online at Boots.com. Of course, if you can get your shampoo cheaper elsewhere, the points probably won’t make any difference.

Keep an eye out for frequent bonus deals and vouchers in the post where you can earn double value or even more for your shop.

There are of course loads of other discounts and loyalty schemes around. Some give you a free item after you buy 10 or so, like those you get at Nandos or Costa Coffee. Others like Waitrose and John Lewis have freebies or discounts. And don’t forget airline schemes like Avios. I’ll take a look at them another time!

Let me know what your favourite schemes are in the comments section below.

Other loyalty schemes

Not all loyalty schemes reward you with points, but they are still worth adding to your wallet if you shop there regularly enough.

MyWaitrose benefits

Money off vouchers

You can also get a free newspaper if you spend £10

You can get a “free” hot drink with any purchase

Ikea Family benefits

Member prices on select items each month

Free tea or coffee Monday to Friday

Extra 10% off sale prices

My John Lewis benefits

Free hot drink and cake at least three times a year

Occasional vouchers (e.g. free Easter eggs)

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13 Comments

Judith Neal
on January 19, 2019 at 6:25 pm

Morrisons barista bars – there only seem to be a few at the moment – offer good value drinks and snacks & 25p off with use of your own cup, but their loyalty card offering a free drink for 9 stamps collected is impossible because the cafes have run out of cards and for months now have given customers feeble excuses for the failure of this scheme.The barista staff are obviously embarrassed when asked what’s happening.

Morrisons have been giving only 5 points per litre on fuel for some time .I emailed them two years ago as to why if they give 5points per pound in the store they do not give one point per 20p (they only award in multiples of 5) I have yet to get a reply.They do sometimes have good bonuses though-currently 100points (=10p towards the holy grail of the £5 voucher)on a tin of KTC tomatoes themselves on offer at 3for £1. You would though only find this out from their Ramadan leaflet- nothing on the shelf edge in either of my local stores.

All these points are really meaningless as all they do unless you can get a good price at the same place near to where you live or passing by in a car, is track your spending habits and bombard you with ads

Co-op has a brilliant loyalty program. You get 4% of £value for all co-op branded stuff. They give 1% on top of that to charity. And you can redeem your balance as soon as the next shop whether you have 1 pence or £100 in credit

Hi
just to update you on the Morrison’s points system. Since last year they have halved their points on petrol to ‘one point per litre’ instead of 2 points per litre.
By my calculation, you have to spend about £1000 in total to get the 5000 points needed to get a £5 voucher! Really not worth the stress and certainly not enough of an incentive to now keep me as a loyal customer.
I had a look on their website and the reason given for decreasing the points on petrol was so that they could keep their petrol prices low. Really??

Final point re M & S Sparks. They also throw in a good number of bonus offers you can claim on the card throughout the year including the odd ‘ Spend £35 get £5 off ‘ on Food. And while they don’t advertise it they send you a £5 Credit to your Sparks card to be used in your Birthday month after the first year. Again it’s an odd model but if you shop at M & S and are web savvy enough to claim the offers I think it’s well worth doing.

The other practical benefit of collecting M & S Sparks points is you collect offer slots. They send you 5 ‘ tailored ‘ offers every 2 weeks. Depending on how many Sparks you’ve collected you can pick 1 to 4 out of the list of 5. The offer is then applied when you swipe in store or checkout online. If you shop in M & S regularly the savings will mount up over time. Picking them every two weeks is a faff but 20% off something you were buying anyway is worth it.

This is slightly unfair to the M & S Sparks Card. It’s true the points collected have no redemption value. But they donate 1p per transaction of £1 or over to a Charity of your choice when you use the Card. There is a list of 10 Charities and you pick from it when you register for the scheme. If you shop regularly at M & S that will add up.

Why do dobbies expect me to £12 for the privlage of using cash, only £10 by direct debit, for their loyalty card. I prefer to pay cash but really object to being ripped of, so I doubt I will be renewing my card.
G D

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